Ron Wimberly

It seems like Prince of Cats creator Ron Wimberly has been on a tear of producing pretty awesome superhero redesigns lately. It was just a couple of weeks ago that we took a look at his take on Cloak and Dagger and Blade, which involved the vampire hunter swinging around a bokken possessed with the spirit of a legendary Japanese hero that started to glow when the situation got real, and if that wasn't awesome enough, now we have his take on Wonder Woman.

One of the things I've never been able to understand about comics is why Blade has never been able to hold down an ongoing series. I mean, he the character who provided Marvel with its first-ever big-screen success, but he's a badass who chops up draculas with katanas, and really, that should be the easiest formula to sell to anyone. And yet, it hasn't happened, despite multiple attempts since the first Blade movie became a hit in 1998.

Were it not for the 3D -- a concept I am yet to be sold on in any medium -- it would appear that Study Group head honcho Zack Soto gazed into the musty abyss that is my head-space and fashioned the new Study Group anthology accordingly. At 96 pages, it contains comics by some of the artists I'm most excited by right now: Connor Willumsen, Sophie Franz, Mia Schwarz, Benjamin Urkowitz, Pete Toms, David King, Julia Gfrorer & Sean T. Collins, and more.

A great comic book cover has a lot of work to do. It’s both an advertisement and a work of art; both a statement and an invitation. Sometimes they convey character, sometimes mood, sometimes moment. Sometimes they pastiche the classics or pay tribute to the past; sometimes they strive to show us something entirely new. Always they show us a glimpse of somewhere else through a canvas no bigger than a window pane. In Best Comic Book Covers Ever (This Month), we look back over some of the most eye-catching, original and exceptional covers of the month that was.

Bloodbaths, glowing hands, and sinister animal silhouettes; these are a few of comics' favorite things, judging by the comic book covers from June 2014. Read on for great covers from Riley Rossmo, Christian Ward, Russell Dauterman, Jerome Opeña, and more.

Publisher Locus Moon press has been working on the new anthology book, Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream, for about two years now, and it's asking for fans to help make the long journey come to fruition.

The book,which tasks creators including Paul Pope, John Cassaday, Jill Thompson, Cliff Chiang, J.H. Williams III, Craig Thompson, Carla Speed McNeil, Mike Allred and Roger Langridge, with drawing new, full-page Little Nemo strips in the style of series creator Winsor McCay, will come out in the fall if Locus Moon can raise $50,000 via Kickstarter. The project launched Monday morning, and by mid-afternoon, it was at around $13,000. Not a bad start.

If you've seen the 2009 blaxploitation parody Black Dynamiteor the Adult Swim cartoon of the same name, then I don't really need to tell you why a new, four-issue IDW Publishing miniseries from writer Brian Ash, artists Ron Wimberly and Sal Buscema, and colorist JM Ringuet is exciting. The very idea is exciting on its face.

But if somehow you aren't familiar with the explosive franchise, let me just tell you this: Black Dynamite is a love machine who can't stand to see jive-ass suckas dealing smack to the kids and is also not fond of his kung-fu being interrupted.

2014 promises to bring a flood of amazing work from a raft of talented cover artists, writers, web cartoonists, interior artists and mangaka. ComicsAlliance has looked at the new projects on the horizon and made a pick of 14 comic creators who we think will make an impact in 2014. Our hope is that this is just the tip of the iceberg, that there are 140 amazing creators on the cusp of creating something great in 2014 -- but these are our picks of the creators to keep an eye on.

This might be the strongest "oh crap I need to own that" reaction I've had to anything in 2013 so far. Criterion, the company that produces high-end Blu-ray/DVD collections of classic films, has recruited more than 25 artists to produce illustrations for an upcoming Zatoichi box set, collecting the 25 Zatoichi films produced between 1962 and 1973. The list of creators involved is somewhat staggering, with names like Bill Sienkiewicz, Ron Wimberly, Yuko Shimizu, Jim Rugg, Paul Pope, Samuel Hiti and more.

I go back and forth on how I feel about variant covers, in terms of whether or not they're good for comics in general. But I'll say this much: the inclusion of variants can sometimes lead to great art we'd otherwise never see. Case in point, Ronald Wimberly's variant cover for Mighty Avengers #3, which is probably my favorite cover of 2013 so far.

Welcome back to Comics Alliance

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on . To keep your points and personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you. To activate your account, please confirm your password. When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

*Please note that your points, prizes and activities will not be shared between programs within our VIP network.

Welcome back to Comics Alliance

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://comicsalliance.com using your original account information.